From the Bookshelf of Reading the Detectives…

The Beast Must Die (Nigel Strangeways, #4)

Nicholas Blake

Start date: March 10, 2018

Finish date: April 4, 2018

Discussion: Buddy reads

Why we're reading this: We've read the previous Nigel Strangeways books as buddy reads, and are continuing with the eccentric sle…more
[close] We've read the previous Nigel Strangeways books as buddy reads, and are continuing with the eccentric sleuth's cases.

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What Members Thought

Jun 11, 2013 Leslie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: guardian-1000, british, mysteries

Clever mystery with plenty of twists. I did suspect the guilty party at several points and was strongly tempted to skip to the end & check but refrained. I'm glad I didn't cheat because Blake (or Cecil Day-Lewis to use his real name) did keep me second guessing myself and threw several very plausible red herrings across the trail.

I would recommend it to any fans of the Golden Age mysteries such as those written by Agatha Christie, Margerie Allingham, Josephine Tey, Rex Stout, etc. One thing I l ...more

6 likes · Like · see review

May 09, 2014 John Frankham rated it really liked it

Shelves: crime-detective

A pleasant re-read of this, as always, quirky Nicloas Blake whodunnit, with Nigel Strangeways as the protagonist. One of a group of pre-war English crime-writers who avoid bland, regularly-plotted and conventional novels.

The GR blurb:

'Frank Cairnes, a detective writer who embarks on a real-life crime of his own, determined to hunt down the runaway motorist who killed his small son Martin.' ...more

Like · see review